can the republicans help a brother pass a bill? now, that would be a slam gunk dunk worth watching. thank you so much for watching. chris matthews is here to pick things up on "hardball." back in the school district l. let's play "hardball." i'm chris matthews in san francisco. let me start with why the republicans might just blow in election. this guy romney ea's and he's g in real answers to the charge he's killed american jobs, got no answer to the demand to release tax returns. tonight, back from vacation, i want to know why.

what is this guy hiding? why did he do something that can't pass the smell test? did he refuse to call them -- to let them go. is this the campaign he wants to run? he hides who he is while the nasty right make six accusations with rush limbaugh saying today that barack obama was indoctrinated with hatred and that hillary clinton's closest aide is of the muslim brotherhood. wow. is this what it's going to to be until november? the looney right attacking the enemies within. joining me now, howard fineman, also with us is msnbc's political analyst, david corn. also the author of a great book. let's talk about this show down right now. howard, it's good to be back with you. it seems now this campaign on the surface is about romney

having something to hide at the same time this wolfpack on the right continues relentlessly to declare the president of the united states somehow not one of us. not an american. someone indoctrine nated in anti-americanism and going after hillary's people saying her closest aide is somehow secretly working as a mole for the muslim brotherhood. this is really looney country. your thoughts. >> i agree with you, chris and i think it's gotten nastier and more personal sooner than i've seen it in other presidential elections. as yes, we've had that before everything from the day of the ad to the willie horton ad to the swift-boating of 2004, but here, i get the sense it's personal involving the personalities and personal life and times of the two candidates. the obama campaign is focusing relentlessly and without apology

on mitt romney's business career, his wealth in the story of how he got there. and even though mitt romney demanded an apology the other day from the president for some of the things that the obama campaign suggested about romney east lack of truthfulness in filling out various forms, the president rejected the call for an apology and said put on your big boy pants. this is the way it is. you have to be an open book and the way the right is responding is with personal attacks on the life and times of the president of the united states. so that's where we are. it's only july and it's going to get worse from here. >> the business practices of the other side, the other side is attacking whether the presidents is in with the terrorists. over the weekend, the obama campaign released this devastating ad about mitt romney using the candidate's own words and with a melody attached.

♪ oh beautiful for spacious skies for purple mountain majesty above the fruited plains ♪ ♪ america america god shed his grace on thee ♪ here's the real vulnerability. i want david to respond. that mitt romney's problem is he doesn't want to talk about where his money came from, but he won't talk about his tax returns. won't discuss the kind of information most candidates put forward, including his father. it's not just the democrats. this weekend, a lot of prominent republicans said romney's refusal is an indication there's something he's trying to hide. >> he should release the tax returns tomorrow. it's crazy.

you've got to release six, eight, ten years. >> if something's going to come out, get it out in a hurry. i do not know why, given the day mr. mccain lost, that he didn't get this out and tidy up some of his offshore accounts. >> there's obviously something there because if there was nothing there, he would say have at it. so there's obviously something there that compromises something he said in the past. many of these politicians think i can do this, i don't have to do this. >> the best thing to do is just get everything out in the open and say, hey, i have nothing to hide and i'm going to release my tax returns. >> those are all republicans talking there. today, romney showed no signs, he still refusing to show how he made his money. >> john mccain ran for president, and released two careers of tax returns. john kerry ran for president. his wife who has hundreds of

millions of dollars, she never released any tax returns, more things to pick through or opposition research and to be dishonest about. >> there's a chief shot. excuse me, david, the use of his chivalry, what is that about? what's the worst case that he knows but we don't? >> you've missed a wild two weeks and you've been missed my myself and other reporters at "huffington post." we sort of hit the mother load in terms of looking at s.e.c. filings and there were also reports about his funds in bermuda, and so, what ipg, people kept saying the conventional wisdom, you get this out, take a hit. >> unless it's really bad. >> opening up your chest cavity

is worse than a slow, bleeding wound. and i think just judging from what i've looked at and what others have done in the last few weeks, there's stuff there that's going to be, i'm not saying illegal, but really hard to explain if not shady. how he got his ira accounts to go up to 1$102 million. and bain, this is a road map. howard and i can keep 100 reporters busy from now until election day with all these tax returns. he cannot justify, he cannot reveal romney world and survive politically. >> it seems we know his tax policy, which is give a break to the wealthy. while he puts the load of lower benefits, less government, higher taxes in effect, more property tax. how can he say i'm going to

write a new tax policy, but i ain't telling you what i've been paying? the very thing he wants to focus on and he won't tell you what taxes he's paid. >> i think this is a classic case of your strength, your biggest weakness. the obama campaign is -- >> you mean embarrassment of riches. >> mitt romney came to them a successful business man. look at how well i've done. this shows i know how the modern economy works. this shows i'm the takeover guy who can turn around a bupt country in the united states of america and that is his strongest calling r card, but if he's going to play it, he's got to be responsible for it and the president of the united states, the president of the united states is very personal terms, chris. this is unusual for an incumbent president this early in a campaign to get this far down into it. but i think the president and

his advisers realize this is the ball game here and they're going to keep focusing on it without apology until either mitt romney lays the whole thing out for the american public or goes down trying or if you believe the romney people, they still think and i talk to them all the time. they think they can soldier through this from now until october. i think they're crazy. four months. >> and chris, this is the first wave. i did a story about a company they invested in in china that took jobs from u.s. outsourcing, happened in '98 when he was in charge of bain. there are a lot of the bain deals and side deals that have not come out yet. this is just the first wave. there are more waves and attacks and research. >> when i think of nor mandy, i think of one o the paratroopers

that gets in the night before. you can always count on rush limbaugh to give the right wing view. saying that government played a role in helping to boost the private sector. here's rush. i think maybe at his worst. >> i think it can now be said without equivocation, without equivocation, this man hates this country. he was indoctrinated as a child. mother was a communist, father was a leftist. sent to prep schools where his contempt for the country was reenforced. he moved to chicago, the home of the radical left moment. this is what we have, a radical, ruthless politician who despises the country and the way it was founded. >> isn't it funny is support the

dominated by republicans, went to ivy league schools. what nonsense. your thoughts on what this -- >> my take on this, chris, is that mitt romney was as one point and to some extent, still is an establishment republican and yet he has run a campaign from the beginning that's been for the most part all attack. it was that way in the primaries. it's that way now. so, if you have an establishment republican behaving like an attack dog, you're going to have a rush limbaughs of the world behaving like wolves. mitt romney has dragged the center of the discussion over to the nasty realm which brings what happens in talk radio and elsewhere, legitimizes the nastiness you're seeing there and has only begun. they're going to become

increasingly hysterical. >> we have to go, but i'm home with my brothers. thank you for joining us tonight. also, tonight, why bain matters. why sending american jobs overseas is a killer politically and why romney needs to show his hands are clean of it, if he can. also, republicans want photo i.d. cards for regular voters, but not their big dollar donors. why do republicans wabt to keep their sugar daddies in the shadows? and yelling fire in the theatres. michele bachmann and her allies say the muslim brotherhood has infiltrated our government. she says hillary's close aide is one of its agents. this is a u.s. congresswoman talking. i'm going to finish with this to sell a candidate. they don't love, don't like. they hate and this is "hardball." the place for politics.

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from the purple group of states that show how close this has gotten. in colorado, it's neck and neck with president obama leading mitt romney by just one point and he needs that state. 45-44. stam story in virginia. state where the president leads romney by just two points. in ohio, must win historically republicans have to win will. president obama has a three-point edge. but in florida, another state the republicans need, it's romney in the lead. every one of the states, within the margin of error.

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ain't so dirty and angry. why don't they tell us who they are? we've been talking about romney east refusal to come clean. if he paid anything at all and where he hides his money in

offshore accounts. now, republicans are taking it a step further. they want to hide the names of contributors. sheldon whitehouse is sponsor of the act that the senate's voting on today which could require donors that gave at least $10,000 to be identified. senator mccaskill is the cosponsor. we talk a lot about this very controversial proposal that people want to vote and they all should vote. have to have a photo government issued i.d. card where people don't even have cars. at the same time, we won't want identification of the wealthy people influences this campaign by the tens of millions of dollars. you're smiling. do republicans see the contrast in the way they look at regular working people and the way they look at rich people when it comes to identifying them? >> i think they have a lot of

trouble with this one. both for the reasons that you mentioned, chris, and because so many of them for so many years, ten sitting republican senators, have been out in favor of transparency and disclosure in collecti election finance before. mitch mcconnell is actually being critiqued in his home state newspaper with editorials quoting from previous editorials he had written in favor of disclosure, so they've really tied themselves in a knot. >> before i get to senator mccaskill, you're the chief sponsor. have you confronted john mccain, lindsey graham? people like that. how do they hide from this? it seems it would be purely partisan for them not to support this measure. >> like you, i admire senator mccain. he joined me on the brief in the supreme court criticizing citizens united. that was a brave step on his part. in this case, he tells me that there's something in my bill

that favors unions. i don't see it. $10,000 across the board. i keep saying john, tell me what it is and we'll talk about it and nobody's been able to show me what it is. >> it's money from, money from corporate -- >> absolutely. >> let me go to claire mccaskill. we're all big fans of yours on this show. we've seen you how as a moderate democratic in the midwest have been fighting for a different kind of politics, right down chose to the middle on the liberal side. why would any republican oppose this bill? >> well, because of what's going on in missouri this year. here's the deal. there has been almost $8 million of secret money spent against me in this campaign. they began back in october. they've been on the air waves with false and lies about me. false claims and lies about me since then. they want to buy this election, chris cht it's pretty simple. this is the party of big money and there's a few masters of the

universe. >> if they're proud of backing your opponent or proud of backing anybody, why don't they say so? >> i don't think they are proud. i don't think the republicans want everybody to know who's paying for these ads. i think the people of missouri, if they knew who were paying for these ads against me, i think they'd be proud of the enemies i've made. >> do you know who they are? >> i don't know. i know this. we're trying to get this thing passed and i think we have to keep the pressure up on this. they say why do you keep bringing this up? we bring it up because people are upset about it. at clairemccaskill.com, sign on to be a cosponsor. >> let's just guess. the koch brothers in gas. let's make the worst assumption. go to the worst case. today, the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, who

wants desperately to be majority leader, criticized the act calling it, what an odd thing. like they're saying somebody swift-boating. calling it nixonian. let's listen. >> the purpose of this legislation is totally clear. after citizens united, democrats realized they couldn't shut up their critic, so they decided to go after the microphone instead. by trying to scare off the funders. the creation of a modern day nixonian enemy's list is currently in full swing and frankly, the american people should not stand for it. >> on "meet the press" in 2000, he switched on this one as well. >> republicans are in favor of disclosure. we need to have real disclosure,

so we ought to broaden the disclosure to include at least labor unions and tax exception associations so you include the major political players in america. why would a little disclosure be better than a lot? >> our good friend in that picture. what do you think of that switcharoo. and here he is opposing that. >> i know. that's the pickle that they're in. it's because of the big money is with them. but also, as claire pointed out, the public is against them. she's got probably a ton of people on her website. i showed on the senate floor 213,000 signatures on a petition. if you go to disclose dlrks act.com, where nearly 300,000 different signatures, people coming in to register. this is an issue that americans

care about. they know very well that their democracy is slipping away wifr them into the hands of the special interests. >> and you remember a time, chris, when people used to carry around briefcase of cash. >> well, i'm not that old, but i know about it. i think it's before '74, when they would put money in the pockets of raincoats of senators when they'd walk into their offices. >> it's like we're going back to a time where ta don't want everyone to vote without showing five forms of i.d., but they want secret money to buy elections and there will be a scandal. i don't know if this ugly petry dish that we're seeing across this country will produce it this year, but mark my words. if we don't get transparency, sunshine on the american elections, there is going to be a big scandal and people will go to jail eventually and that's why we have got to get this thing done. i hope the republicans come to

their senses and they will if the american people put enough pressure on them. >> well said. thank you. sounds like good american politics to me. you ought to know who's running our election, who's influns us. up next, the "sideshow." >> all jumpy, like -- i like to set people on fire. what? i mean, i like to fire people. providing services. [ donovan ] i hit a wall.

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let's sing happy birthday to adam then. ♪ happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday dear adam happy birthday to you ♪ yay! >> i think i worry more about this election than that guy does. that was an imprompt tu serenade from obama this afternoon. now, dana carvey goes after the election on "the tonight show." >> obama's like a zen master of speaking and romney, he seems sincere, but a little jumpy. i like to set people on fire. what? i mean, i like to fire people. forgotten services. that's not a winning thing against obama. because obama, obama has a lot of confidence. romney can be -- and obama knows

how to pump. he knows how to let things settle down. and if someone tries to interrupt, he's like, no, no, no, let -- bop bop bop. bop bop bop bop bop bop bop. >> same thing in 2008. >> barack obama is so smooth and smart that he just like, mccain's all crunched up and i know how to do this. i can do this. i've been there, i know what it's like. senator barack obama, what do you have to say? people are losing their jobs and people need help and that's all i got to say. >> i've been doing this myself, trying to figure out what each guy should do in the big debates this fall. next, why has this photo gotten

so much buzz? he's just staring at a tomato. people are curious why he looks so engaged there. the folks at new york magazine see the president thinking this. guys, check this out. have you ever seen a tomato this beautiful? look at it. i don't think i could eat this, honestly. it really should be in a museum for it somewhere. let me know if you can find a museum for it, seriously, great job on this tomato. they launched a whole slide show of these moments back in 2010. another highlight from the reel. here he is with joe biden at the museum of nature and science. no, joe, i have no idea what we're supposed to be look iing . just keep looking. now, for the really bizarre. randy shannon was running for a state senate seat until she sent out a letter to supporters saying he was she was dropping out. she says she's now been appointed senator for an

alternative government, senate for republic of united states of america. she's joined a group that says they reinhabited the original government in 2010. the group says that's what we think of as the government, this really quote united states corporation and we have it for things like invasive tsa screenings and even the 14th amendment. that was back in the 1860s and here's the case of the nutshell. quote, if people think it's crazy to want to have a constitution government in place, then so be it. so, there are people out there who are thinking they've been appointed to some other government besides the one that actually exists. these people on the right are really getting zany and that's right, the senator from the alternative yufrs university. tonight, jeff daniels joins us here on "hardball." my son, thomas, has a role in

that program. it's a great show and i can't wait to get you to see the cable show in a real news show. coming up, why bain matters and what is mitt romney running away from? ♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream

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the dow fell by 50 points today, the nasdaq down by 11. stocks lore after retail sales showed consumers held on to their wallets last month. the third month in a row that sales slumped. citigroup's profit beat expeck tases, but revenue was light and yahoo! has hired a former goggle executive to be new ceo.

the firm's fifth ceo in five years. that is it from cnbc first in business worldwide. back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." the bain story isn't going to go away and neither will the drum beat for mitt romney to release more tax returns and while the romney campaign scoffs these are distractions, the attack is sticking it tells a lot about how romney operates. paul krugman put it this way. the true charge of these policies that would benefit rich meshes with bain's record of earning big profits even when workers suffered. a record so stark that mr. romney's attempting to distance himself by insisting he had nothing to do with bain's operation after 1999 even the

company still listed him as ceo. michael steele and joe klein writes about the -- full journalistic integrity here, absolute. this issue, do we know what role at the point romney played in outsourcing? >> no, we don't and it really doesn't matter. in the end. what the obama campaign is doing is building this giant box that they're locking mitt romney in. and the lock on top of that box is his tax returns. in boxing, they call this kind of thing a paint job. it's when a fast, really dexterous fighter is fighting against the slow, plodding guy and he keeps on jabbing and jabbing him in the face and starts opening up cuts all over the face and he starts bleeding. painting him. that's what's been happening the

last couple of weeks. >> are they getting him into a situation where he has to release something he knows will hurt him? >> i suspect he is and chairman steele has been among the republicans who have said he should. this ain't going to go away. >> what do you make of this? i keep hearing your colleagues on the conservative side of things, people like what's his name? matt dowd. these guys are all pushing on television what he clearly doesn't want to do. >> yeah, it's a little bit unnerving to see this kind of back and forth angst over this issue. this is a very straightforward proposition. put out five years worth of tax returns or whatever. have a base story and move on. there's so many ways in which you can capture this moment that says look, yeah, i played by the

rules and the rules aren't level, aren't balanced for the average worker and as president, i want to fix this. that's why we theed tax reform, need to bring down our deficit, spepding and other things, but the more you sit back and give the sort of highbrow response, the less credible you are. >> could he say i want a cleaner, fairer tax system with less loopholes if i've been exploiting every damn loophole? >> sure, he could. he could turn this around in a heart beat. i ran into a prominent republican today -- >> i always assume, michael, you been in politics. if it looks -- if it is better, looks pretty bad. he's hiding something.

surpri suppose he didn't pay any taxes. do you think that's going to be something he's going to be able to defend? >> absolutely because unless he did it illegally, he play eed b the rules everybody else played by. >> it's going to be embarrassing add hell, but if he didn't cheat, he isn't a cheater. what is cheating is the tax code. >> i just got a -- disagree. the voter out there that both candidates are looking for is a working class guy and woman out there that doesn't make a ton of money. all they got is what they live on. these people are saying i'm losing my job, the plant's closing down. this is the kind of guy who sits in the front office with a nice suit on and he did it to me. >> all of which is true. >> i don't think people take it that, they personalize it that they look at romney and go, you did this to me.

the uniforms that our wonderful olympians are wearing were outsourced to china. this is part of the global economy, but we're getting skid skittish about where stuff is made. just take apart your car. that's the nature of the business. i think romney can get in front of that. put it in the context. talk about as i just said before, how i've been impacted of playing by the rules. >> the problem with that is there's a lot of northern united states, scranton to oshkosh, that has lost initially new england industries, because they had right to work and now you see all the united states, but especially industrial middle getting eaten out, hallowed out by this out sourcing. you ever drive through those

towns? >> yeah, you're right, but it's not all outsourcing. let's be clear. this is not like every job in america in the rust belt was shipped overseas. >> where did it go? >> businesses just closed in some cases, chris. because of the economy. because of the inability to get cash and credit. >> here's the big problem that romney has. you know, there's been globalization, outsourcing, creative destruction, but mitt romney is the example of a form of capitalism and the central principle of which was borrow money in order to buy assets and then you reap enormous profits. this is a metaphor for our time. this has been a form of capitalize that has been incredibly destructive.

>> i agree that there have been capitalism run amuck at times and we've seen that. 2008, 2009. where romney has an opportunity as someone whose been on that playing field to come in and talk expertly about it, yes. to humanize it. to talk about how this whole thing could be turned around to benefit the american worker. the benefit you know, those small towns. i think the a real opportunity and the longer this thing drags out over taxes and bain, the more that opportunity is missed. >> here's what makes it a lot worse for romney. he hasn't been substantive on anything. turned around now and was substantive on breaking up the big five wall street banks, which is something we need to do because they're too big to fail. that would be a break from. the reason why this stuff sticks is that he hasn't been specific

on anything else. >> thank you. up next, some right wingers used to see communist out of their beds. now, they see muslim extremists and terrorists. michelle bachmann is back saying we've got a muslim underground with some of the people working close to hillary clinton. this is outrageous and she's behind it. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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been a lot of democratic concern, outrage about these new voter i.d. laws set in motion by republican governors and ledge . "the new york times" website has looked at a number of academic studies on the new laws. his conclusion, pennsylvania right now is the only swing state that will be affected and it's likely to only reduce turnout by 2.4%. obama's chances of winning this state remain above 80%. i'm concerned about the people living in row houses not having cars. we'll be right back. prz

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stayfocus lolo, focus.ya. let's do this. i am from baltimore. south carolina... bloomington, california... austin, texas... we are all here to represent the country we love. this is for everyone back home. it's go time. across america, we're all committed to team usa. i knew it'd be tough on our retirement savings, especially in this economy. but with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader.

. michele bachmann is no stranger to conspiracy theorys and now, she's drummed up a new one. she and four others say the muslim brotherhood has infiltrated the american government. wife of the former new york congressman, still the wife of, anthony weiner. she says she is tied to the radical organization through three family members and one of the country's leading antimuslim conspiracy theorists -- with me now -- and ron reagan, msnbc political analyst and author of "my father at 100." thank you for joining us. just to get this straight, her entire basis for saying that houma, who works closely to hillary clinton, is in the

muslim brotherhood, who also says that the logo used for one of our government agencies is an islamic symbol. what do we make of this kind of nonsense? >> look, i could go on and talk about individual facts. let's look sets. this reminds me of joseph welch who in 1948 said this to joseph mccarthy. he said let us not assassinate this further. senator, you have done enough. have you no sense of decency. this is what we have here with miss aberdeen. she's married to a former u.s. congressman who is jewish. she's been in vogue. i don't know many people who have her record of achievement and her public persona who are members of the muse limb brotherhood. there are radicals in the united

states. i just won an investigative journalism award for looking at them. some of these folks they are pointing to are really being publicly assassinated. i think any person with decency has to go on television and say enough a enough. >> this is the person. let's get a background. in her letter to the state department's deputy this is what bachman singled out. longtime hillary clinton aide is having ties to the muslim brotherhood. quote, for example, according to the muse limb brotherhood in america, the product for center for security policy, the department's chairman huma abedin has three family members connected to the muse limb brotherhood. ron reagan, this assumption here that anybody would buy this

malarkey that somehow huma is able to manipulate somebody as sophisticated politically as hillary clinton with all the commitment she's made to her country is somehow being tooled around by the wild nature of huma abedin is crazy talk. isn't it? >> well, if crazy were people, michele bachmann would be china, chris. when this topic first came up, i was like why are we acting as a megaphone with this lunacy? >> because they win if obama loses. that's what you have to keep in mind. >> that's right. >> and other things in politics, this loony right wins if the left loses. >> and that's really the point i'm heading towards here. while at first i thought why are we offering a megaphone. i think we're doing the lord's work in a way, if you will, to

bring attention to people like michele bachmann. she is an integral part of the republican brand. while mitt romney may not believe there's a conspiracy, some people do. if you vote for mitt romney, that comes with him. this is part of the republican party today. >> let me go back to brian, you're an expert. we looked at the poll this week. what stunned me, it's bad enough 8% of the country say barack obama is a muslim which he has never been. 40% say they're not willing to say what he is. in other words, their sneaky attack line is i don't believe what he says. 40% are out there chomping on this e enjoying the fact they're creating some mystery here about his background. meaning hint hint, he's a foreigner, he's dangerous, he's a muslim. it's working. the nuts are winning the argument. >> it is working. and unfortunately what this kind of stuff does is it margin alizes people of good will who

happen to be muslim and on one side of the political spectrum. people like west and bachmann who point people to american or anti-american. only if they believe that their positions is doing a great disservice. >> here's west singling out the communists in our government. here it is. >> well, there you have it. how many communists do you figure in the congress? i say zero. this guy's got it up to -- he's very precise. this is so joe mccarthy. precision is a great tool of the nuts. >> it is. and what he's doing is he's getting that number from a progressive democratic alliance. look, i don't agree with most of those folks. but to call people we don't

agree with communists or to label people who are muslim as some kind of enemy, this does a disservice. i have students who are patriotic muslim-americans who want to go into government service and this is a disgrace. >> part of our past that keeps flashing back. thank you so much. when we return, let me finish with republicans trying to sell a sd they don't love. let's face it. in order to beat a president they hate. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and best in class 38 mpg highway... ...advanced headlights... ...and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. ♪ introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪

let me finish tonight with this. when you step away from this campaign for awhile and look at it, you see it clearer. it's stark now. people on the right don't love mitt romney, don't necessarily like him. barely able to defend him like this refusal to come clean on taxes. besides if the big money boys are so proud of backing him, why are they against giving their names out. they want little people to come up with a government issued i.d. card with a photo on it but they with all their lawyers and accountants refuse to identify themselves when they give tens of millions of dollars to endorse it. then there's rush limbaugh yelling at the president being indoctrine nated in his youth. and the closest aide is of the muslim brotherhood. those thinking from